Question

TLC and HPLC Analysis of Analgesics:

A student submitted a sample of aspirin for HPLC analysis. Based on the type of detector used in HPLC analysis and the type of compounds that can be detected, if the aspirin was contaminated (wet) with trace amounts of a solvent such as ethyl acetate, hexane, or water, would this contaminant be detected AND would it appear as a peak in the HPLC chromatogram?

Answer 1

Yes, the contaminant would be detected HPLC is a technique used to separate and quantify each component in a mixture. Each component in a mixture interacts differently with the adsorbent material causing different flow rate for different component resulting in the different peak in HPLC chromatogram. HPLC allows very small to use very small particle as column packing material which gives a much greater surface area for interaction between the stationary phase and the molecule flowing past it This allows better separation of the components of the mixture so, in HPLC the high resolution is the result of adsorbents of very small particles size and large surface area.